Thursday, January 28, 2010
This story dates back to November 30 but it was just brought to my attention. It shows how tough it is to be a moderate in a terror state (that would be the Palestinian Authority for those keeping score). It's impossible to share ideas and shift public opinion -- or even hint at basic truths, as in this case -- in a rational direction in places (most of the world) where individual rights and freedoms are not guaranteed against violence. Sari Nusseibeh is, while occasionally controversial, considered a "moderate" voice within Palestinian Arab society: Fear and Loathing in PA over Temple Mount Link to Jews
An Arab university lecturer and writer is hiding underground out of fear for his life after shocking the Palestinian Authority with a book that links Jews with the Temple Mount. The Arab world has been conducting a campaign, including removal of tons of dirt containing archaeological evidence, to try to eliminate historical Jewish links with the Temple Mount.
Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, of Birzeit University in Ramallah, threw acid on the propaganda campaign that tries to convince Arabs that the First and Second Temples never existed. He wrote in a book, "The legendary Temple of Jerusalem may be the place of the Presence of the Almighty and where the High Priests served Him." [Note that this isn't even much of a statement, just weasel words. -MS]
PA officials are furious with Nusseibeh, a scion of a distinguished Arab family, who now is in hiding and cannot be contacted even by mobile phone.
However, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Middle East expert at Bar-Ilan University, told Arutz 7 that Nusseibeh actually is "small potatoes" compared to a Muslim grand mufti, in the days of the British Mandate, who wrote in 1929 that the Holy Temples on the Temple Mount were Jewish,
According to Dr. Kedar, Nusseibeh already had made enemies in the PA after declaring he is not interested in returning to his former home of Ramle, located near Ben Gurion Airport. He also was threatened with death several years ago after urging Arabs to stop suicide bombings and to abandon their claim to a "right of return" to Israel...
We await the international condemnations, the Harvard University panels and the petitions condemning what has happened to this man and demanding his academic freedom.
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, p.73
Very depressing, though not surprising.